Phosphorus-modified Pt@Cu surfaces for efficient electrocatalysis of hydrogen evolution

Abstract

Robust and efficient platinum (Pt)-based electrocatalysts are pursued for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, the performance of Pt-based HER electrocatalysts needs to be further improved in alkaline and neutral media due to the extra water dissociation step. Moreover, the fabrication process and long-term stability of current Pt-based HER electrocatalysts are unsatisfactory in mild media. Herein, a one-step facile process was developed to fabricate a phosphorus-modified Pt@Cu (Pt/P@Cu) electrocatalyst to realize the feasibility of high-performance HER in neutral media. The HER performance of Pt/P@Cu is further increased with the successful introduction of phosphorus. P exists as oxides on the Pt/P@Cu surface, which was demonstrated by XPS and Raman. The P doping leads to increased surface active sites, lower charge transfer resistance, and enhanced HER performance in neutral media. Pt/P@Cu presents a low overpotential of 24.3 mV at the current density of −10 mA cm⁻², along with an excellent stability reaching −1000 mA cm⁻² for 1000 cycles of LSV. The successful P doping on the catalyst surface inspires future study on developing simple surface modifications to increase the electrocatalytic activity to develop advanced electrocatalysts.